In today's competitive environment, access to immediate information is crucial. With continual advancements in communication technologies, many have become accustomed to, and even expecting, access to instantaneous information and the ability to be constantly available to others. Short Message Service (SMS) is rapidly becoming the messaging medium of choice for larger and larger segments of the public. SMS is a text messaging service utilizing standardized communications protocols for the exchange of text messages to mobile devices, specifically mobile or cellular phones. Accordingly, SMS enables users of mobile devices the benefits of the often limited functions from the world of paging, email, and instant messaging.
The advent of digital cellular, and more particularly SMS, provides numerous benefits to the wireless world that were previously unavailable, thus aiding the population's need for constant information and constant availability. Text messaging is a fast and convenient way to communicate short messages between users of mobile devices. There are also information services that use text messaging to deliver content of interest (e.g., news, weather, sports, financial markets, entertainment) to a base of subscribers. Accordingly, SMS broadcasting is a widely used technology, with more and more companies and service providers communicating to their customers via SMS.